Does Xamarin IOS Simulator Require XCode?

Question

Well , im new to IOS app development i've heard about Xamarin cross-platform app-development, so my setup is ==>

1. Visual Studio Enterprise Update 1 Installed.

2. Xamarin For Visual Studio 2015 Downloaded (Now about to install).

3. Xamarin IOS simulator downloaded.

Now as i have xamarin simulator i don't need to buy a mac or get a hosted-mac , that's clear now i just wanna confirm do i need XCode ? i mean i have xamarin simulator but still i'm confused about XCODE for windows how can i get that should it be getting installed automatically or do i need to give it another shot. I'm confused about all this . I just don't* have the budget to buy a MAC and i want to do APP development just (Debugging ) deployment will be done latter please tell me what should i do or give me the proper instruction thanks.

Answer 1

You need to run Xcode on a mac to build Xamarin apps for iOS. A Windows install of Xamarin on Visual Studio will allow you to connect to a mac to do the build remotely, but you still need a mac available that has Xcode installed on it to do the build.

You can download Xcode from the Mac App Store. You will also need the mac to upload the final package to the iOS App Store if you're going to release it there.

An other option is to use a cloud based Mac server, there are several companies that rent them out on hourly/monthly basis for this purpose (MacinCloud being one that I've heard of).

Answer 2

XCode needs and can only be installed onto a MAC OSX system.

Once you have XCode installed, you can use its iPhone simulator to emulate the iOS apps you make on your windows pc.

You need to connect to the MAC by using the MAC Agent on Visual Studio. This connects remotely to the MAC and allows you to debug the app to be emulated onto the virtual iOS device being simulated on your MAC OSX system.

You can use MAC Cloud based server but also, you can use a real iOS device such as an iPhone to debug apps directly onto the device.